Livius, Titus
Patavium 59/64 bc – 17 ad Patavium

Romische historien Titi liuii mit etlichen newen Translation so kurtzuer­schienen jaren im hohen thum Styfft zu Mentz jm latein erfunden und vorhyn nit mer gesehen sein [a free paraphrase by Bernard Schöfferlin, continued by Ivo Wittich, with additions by Nikolaus Fabri Carbach].

Mainz, Johann Schöffer, 1523

folio (320 × 205 mm), (453) ff. signed π⁶ a⁴ b–o⁶ p⁴ A⁸ B–R⁶ (blank R6) Aa⁸ Bb–Ee⁶ Ff⁸²π¹⁶ Gg⁴ Hh–Zz⁶ Aaa–Nnn⁶ Ooo4 Ppp⁶ 1⁶ 2⁸ (lacking final blank) and irregularly foliated as usual (2) 1–90 (1) 90–191 (2) 193–197 199–232 232–236 236–247 233–420 (13). Four woodcut compartments (title and sub-titles), another woodcut compartment enclosing first page of dedication, very numerous woodcut illus­trations (some composed from multiple blocks), printer’s device, and initials.

provenance Fieldmarshal Abraham von Erlach (1716–1782) of Bern canton, Switzerland, his engraved exlibris on paste-down and beneath a related label Bibliotheque de Spietz¹— Hartung & Hartung, Auktion 96, 2 November 1999, lot 214 — Hartung & Hartung, Auktion 119, Munich, 5 May 2008, lot 178

Folio l2 torn and closed without loss, blank corner of folio i5 torn away, light waterstain in a few mar­gins, otherwise a remarkably clean and fresh copy, in wholly original condition. Binding abraded, joints cracked and back worn, but still sound.

binding contemporary calf over bevelled wooden boards, covers decorated in blind by three rolls; one clasp (of two) remaining. Preserved in a cloth clam shell box.

First printing of a revised and enlarged German translation of Livy’s Ab urbe condita, featuring illustrations from woodblocks cut for editions published by Johann Schöffer at Mainz in 1505, and by Johann Grüninger at Strasbourg in 1507, newly married with a large and highly acclaimed set of blocks attributed to Conrad Faber von Creuznach.

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Woodcut views of Ebernburg and Veste Landsthul, where Franz von Sickingen was besieged and died (1523).
Height of binding 325 mm

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The editor, Nikolaus Fabri von Carbach (circa 1485–circa 1534), a lecturer in ancient his­tory at the University of Mainz, had discovered in the library of Mainz cathedral a manu­script of Livy containing Books 33–40, including two sections which had been missing so far (it is still our only source for part of Book 40). This manuscript (now lost) served as the basis for an edition in Latin which he published in 1518, in collaboration with Wolfgang Angst, a corrector for the Schöffer publishing house, and also for this revised and enlarged edition of the Schöfferlin-Wittich translation.

In Schöffer’s 1505 edition, the text is illustrated by 233 woodcuts (including repeats) by several anonymous cutters adapting models in Venetian book illustration.² The best of these woodcuts traditionally are credited to ‘Der Meister der Sebastian-Legende’, and the best of those introduced in Grüninger’s 1507 edition to ‘Der Meister des Freiburger Altars’.³ For this revised and enlarged edition, the publisher commissioned a large number of new woodcut scenes of Roman history from a designer in his employ, whose identity is uncer­tain. Thormählen confidently identified him as Conrad Faber von Creuznach (circa 1490–circa 1553); subsequent investigation of Faber’s oeuvre has cast doubt on her attribution, but supplied no alternative.⁴ Schöffer also introduced woodcuts designed for his other publi­cations, including views of the sieges of Ebernburg and Landstuhl, where Franz von Sickingen was wounded and died (cut for a Warlicher Bericht written by Conrad Sturm and published anonymously by Schöffer in 1523).⁵

Reprinted from the 1505 edition (folio π2 verso) is the famous dedication to the emperor Maximilian, probably written by Ivo Wittich at the instigation of Johann Schöffer, in which Gutenberg is retroactively identified as ‘originator’ of the process of ‘mechanical texting’, while Johann Fust and the lately-deceased Peter Schöffer (Johann’s grandfather and father respectively) are jointly credited for ‘improving’ the art.⁶

Six copies of the edition are located by the writer in North American libraries

● Cambridge, ma, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Typ 520.23.526 ● Hartford, ct, Trinity College Library, PA6455.S4 1523 ● New York, Columbia University Libraries, B87LJ KS ● Providence, ri, Brown University, PA6455.A2 1523 (‘Imperfect: l. xlv lacking’) ● Washington, dc, Folger Library, 222–723f ● Washington, dc, Library of Congress, PA6455.S4 (Rosenwald Collection)⁷

references F.W.E. Roth, Die Mainzer Buchdruckerfami­lie Schöffer (Leipzig 1892), pp.63, 102; Herbert M. Adams, Catalogue of books printed on the continent of Europe, 1501–1600, in Cambridge libraries (Cambridge 1967), L–1358; Franz Josef Worstbrock, Deutsche Antikerezeption 1450–1550, Teil i : Verzeichnis der deutschen Übersetzungen antiker Autoren (Boppard am Rhein 1976), no. 248; Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des xvi. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart 1987), L–2105